Public Health Experts Tell House GOP Forum CCP Virus ‘Likely Originated’ in Wuhan Lab Leak

Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, on Feb. 3, 2021. Hector Retamal /AFP via Getty Images

A panel of public health experts told a Republican-sponsored congressional forum that the CCP virus, also known as the novel coronavirus, “likely originated” in a leak from China’s Wuhan Institute for Virology (WIV).

A memorandum written by Republican staffers on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis and released July 20 said the five main conclusions of the experts were:

• The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus likely originated in the WIV.
• The virus was likely modified through dangerous gain-of-function research.
• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) likely continue to be involved in dangerous research in China.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) didn’t conduct an impartial investigation of the origins of the virus.
• The CCP and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have an advanced biological weapons research and development program that may be functioning within or in coordination with the WIV.

The June 29 forum’s witnesses included Adm. Brett Giroir, who, as assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) during the Trump administration, managed the development of the first tests used to detect the presence of the virus in an individual.